New Delhi:
The Supreme Court of India on Thursday gave the green signal to the formation of a provincial government in Delhi, saying the apex court is not against a minority government assuming power in the state.
A constitutional bench of the court headed by Chief Justice P.L. Dattu appreciated the move initiated by the Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung to consult all political parties in this regard as a positive move and a step in the right direction.
“If the Lieutenant Governor feels that government formation is not possible, he may seek Presidential advice and the President may take a call,” the bench observed, saying it has taken note of media reports regarding attempts to form a government in Delhi.
The Supreme Court had on Tuesday lambasted the federal government and the Lieutenant Governor for their failure to take a decision and questioned if the single largest party had the numbers to form the government, when it was informed that President Pranab Mukherjee had given his nod to Jung seeking his approval to invite the single largest party in the hung Delhi assembly.
The court had then fixed Thursday as the date to hear merits of an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) petition seeking dissolution of the hung Delhi assembly followed by fresh polls to break the deadlock in Delhi.
“There could be a minority government with an outside support of a political outfit. Let us wait for some time,” the bench told AAP lawyer Prashant Bhushan, while fixating November 11 as the next date of hearing the AAP petition.
Bhushan, who is also a senior leader of AAP, was forced to change his tone and said: “We have no problem with the Lieutenant Governor consulting all parties but it should be done in a time-bound manner.”
Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung had on Wednesday called on federal Home Minister Rajnath Singh and announced that he would start consulting all political parties very soon. India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the single largest party with 29 lawmakers on its side and is expecting invite to form the minority government. The party is five short of the majority mark and is yet to announce who it intends to bridge the gap, though AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal accuses BJP of trying to indulge in horse-trading and offering up to Rs 200 million per lawmaker to switch their loyalties.
The Supreme Court’s U-turn may have saved a constitutional crisis that was in the making as any direction to the authorities to hold fresh polls could have transgressed parliament’s supremacy which had approved President’s rule in Delhi for a year, which is scheduled to lapse on February 16 next year and challenge President of India’s authority which had allowed formation of a minority government in Delhi.
The apex court’s U-turn, however, is a setback for AAP which has been seeking fresh polls and accusing Jung of favouring the BJP. AAP feels it has regained the lost ground and would gain majority on its own if fresh polls are held now, while saying that the BJP is delaying polls fearing its defeat.
Delhi had elected a hung assembly in December last year. Jung invited AAP to form the government after the BJP declined the offer. Kejriwal-led government took office with outside support of the Congress party and quit office after being in power for 49 days on February 14.
